As the winner of the 2011 and 2012 Sprint Cup events at The Glen, Ambrose is expected to do well. So his pole-winning lap Saturday wasn't necessarily a surprise.

But to expect anyone to win the pole is even a little bold. Challenge? Yes. Win? Well …

"There are no guarantees in racing," Ambrose said. "That's one thing I've learned in the Cup Series is anything normally does happen out there and we just have to be ready for all those circumstances and hopefully keep the nose clean, keep the brakes under control, and look out for the engine gear box until the end."

While there are no guarantees, Ambrose running well and collecting trophies on road courses is about as close to a sure thing in racing as possible.

Ambrose will start from the pole Sunday — Bowyer will start beside him — for the Cheez-It 355 at The Glen. Green flag is scheduled for 1:19 p.m. ET.

Surprisingly it is the first time in Cup he will start from the Glen pole.

"The car certainly felt great and felt like it was up to the challenge, so I think that bodes really well for (the race)," Ambrose said. "I felt better about our racecar in qualifying after practice, so if we can keep this form going, I think our car will be good for the race.

"We have track position now that's going to help us a lot and we just have to see how it plays out."

Ambrose, a 36-year-old Australian, has six career NASCAR victories — the two Cup wins plus three Nationwide wins at Watkins Glen and a Nationwide win at Montreal.

Last year Cup win at The Glen might have been the most dramatic. Ambrose was running third going into the final lap but oil on the track resulted in drivers slipping and sliding. Brad Keselowski got into the back of leader Kyle Busch and Ambrose made contact with Keselowski before making a pass for the win.

"It was quite a lucky break for me to get that win, but I'll take it and I enjoyed it, but I haven't thought anything about it since," Ambrose said.

That's typical Ambrose attitude. He is proud of what he has done but he wants more. The Richard Petty Motorsports driver really wants an oval victory to prove he is more than just a road-course star.

"He's just so aggressive," said Jeff Gordon, who has four career Cup wins at Watkins Glen. "While I think sometimes that holds him back on the ovals, it pays off big time here. That's going to be tough to beat."

Ambrose has three top-10s this year and sits 22nd in the Cup standings.

"When you go oval racing the setups of the cars are obviously very, very important," Ambrose said. "When you go road racing, it's more about just getting the car even and not doing anything crazy.

"For me, I know when the car is sort of not feeling right that I can get it close, and then I'll just do the rest."

Bowyer and Martin Truex Jr., the Michael Waltrip Racing teammates who will start second and third on the grid, both have road-course wins in their career but are not considered road-course aces. Ambrose turned a record lap of 128.241 mph around the 2.45-mile road course while Bowyer was at 127.958 and Truex was at 127.462.

"His background is in road racing," Bowyer said of Ambrose. "We don't even have curved roads in Kansas. … Apparently they have a lot of road racing in Australia. I watched the cars that he drove and he should be better at this."

AJ Allmendinger, who will start fourth, won the Nationwide race earlier this year at Road America. Kyle Busch, who starts fifth, has a Cup win at Watkins Glen.

"When I go oval racing, the cars are so twisted and contorted with their setups that if you miss it by a half-pound of tire pressure or 20 pounds of spring rate — or something like that — you can have a terrible day," Ambrose said.

"For me, when you go road racing it's not so much about setting the car up to the very edge, it's more about just making it easy to drive and then I'll do the rest."

But with his prowess comes pressure for Ambrose, such as the comments that Bowyer made.

"(It's) hard to sometimes balance out the weight of expectation from our team," Ambrose said. "The sponsors know it should be a good weekend and the team expects a good weekend and you guys (in the media) do and the fans do, so, all of a sudden, if you don't perform on those days it adds even more pressure to what you do every other week."